Historic Restaurants of Paris: A Guide to Century-Old Cafes, Bistros, and Gourmet Food Shops

The vanished world of nineteenth-century Paris still awaits behind the doors of select restaurants and gourmet shops that have delighted customers for more than a hundred years. Crossing these thresholds, the discriminating diner and shopper can step into a gilded Belle Epoque setting favored by Manet and Degas, a vintage confectioner that supplied bonbons to Monet, or a shaded cafe terrace frequented by Zola. From tiny patisseries, cozy bistros, and rustic wine bars barely known outside the quarter to bustling brasseries, elegant tea salons, and world-famous cafes, The Historic Restaurants of Paris is an indispensible guide to classic cuisine served in settings of startling beauty. Charming anecdotes relating to a restaurant’s history and celebrated former patrons, among them Proust, Balzac, George Sand, and the Impressionists, enhance this pocketable guide, which is both a practical resource and lovely gift book.

Ellen Williams, the author of the award-winning The Impressionists’ Paris and Picasso’s Paris, is the former art editor of Vogue and executive editor of The Journal of Art. She is the co-author of The Historic Shops & Restaurants of New York (The Little Bookroom).